Download or read book Defying the Diva written by D. Anne Love and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For Haley Patterson, freshman year of high school boils down to having a good time with her two best friends and making a name for herself at the school newspaper. But when Haley reveals one too many juicy details in her gossip column, superdiva and queen bee Camilla Quinn makes sure that Haley's life changes...for the worse. Completely ostracized by everyone at school, including her best friends, Haley finds herself alone and miserable. Reprieve comes in the form of a summer job at an exclusive mountain resort, where Haley forges new friend-ships, snags a cute lifeguard, and learns how to trust again. But her newfound hope is not bought without some heartbreak. As the summer draws to a close, an unexpected confrontation with Camilla forces Haley to face her fears. Will she continue to let Camilla control her life? Or will Haley find the confidence and courage to stand her ground? From the author of Picture Perfect and Semiprecious comes an honest, poignant novel about fear, friendship, and fighting back.

Download or read book Picture Perfect written by D. Anne Love and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2009-10-27 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: So far, life for fourteen-year-old Phoebe Trask has been picture perfect. Her parents are successful; her older sister, Shyla, is on track to becoming the youngest lawyer in Texas; and her sixteen-year-old brother, Zane, the all-American best brother ever, is a star on the high school swim team. Then Phoebe's mother, Beth, becomes the traveling spokeswoman for Bee Beautiful Cosmetics, a job that keeps her away from home indefinitely, and Phoebe's father, a respected judge, finds himself embroiled in a trial that has the whole town choosing sides. What's more, the new next-door neighbor is a gorgeous widow who seems to want to take Beth's place in the family. All of a sudden Phoebe's once-solid family is on very shaky ground. In the year that follows, Phoebe is pushed to her limit as she struggles to cope with the changes in her life that just keep coming, ready or not -- and as she learns what it really means to love...and to forgive.

Download or read book The Puppeteer s Apprentice written by D. Anne Love and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-05-29 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mouse works in the scullery at Dunston Manor, peeling onions, stirring the pots, sweeping the floors, and doing her best not to get into trouble with the fractious cook. Alone at night in the dark corner she calls home, she wishes for something wondrous to happen and dreams of a better life. But what chance does she have, a girl born with nothing, not even a proper name? Then Mouse sees a puppet play and knows at once what she must do. Somehow she must learn to make the puppets dance. Somehow she must become the puppeteer's apprentice. But the puppeteer is harboring some uncomfortable secrets, and Mouse doesn't know whether she has the courage it takes to fulfill her dreams. How Mouse finds her place in the world, and a very special name, is the heart of this thoroughly absorbing and remarkable story set in medieval England.

Download or read book Semiprecious written by D. Anne Love and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Garnet and her older sister Opal, who live with their aunt in 1960s Oklahoma, brave their mother's desertion and their father's recovery from an accident, learning that "the best home of all is the one you make inside yourself."

Download or read book Daring to Live written by Sheri Hunter and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2020-02-18 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When her husband, Mannard, unexpectedly passed away at just 50 years of age, Sheri Hunter was devastated. With her whole world falling down around her, she turned to her friends. Years before, she and these Dare Divas had gone on a whitewater rafting trip. Now they sought out other adventures--zip-lining, skydiving, mountain climbing, and more. Through these death-defying activities and the unwavering support of her friends, Sheri slowly found the strength to move forward in life. More than just a memoir, this empowering female travelogue pairs emotionally resonant, confessional storytelling with spiritual takeaways, challenging readers to engage fully in their own lives, surround themselves with friends who will support them, and face life's challenges with courage and faith. If you've ever experienced a sudden loss or upheaval in life, Sheri's story will reassure you that even if life as you knew it is over, the future God has for you is always full of new adventures.

Download or read book The Devil s in the Diva written by Paul Ruditis and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-12-21 with total page 498 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bryan Stark describes himself as the "Greek Chorus," constantly watching the action and drama unfold around him in the arena with the most high school divas possible--the theater! At his posh private school in Malibu, Orion Academy, the teens are entitled, the boys are cute, and the theatre productions extremely elaborate. Bryan sees it all as he directs his best friend Samantha, the most talented of the Orion divas, through the throng. This bind-up is filled with friends, theatre, and romance, but underneath it all DRAMA! is a heartfelt comedic series.

Download or read book Midnight in Cairo The Divas of Egypt s Roaring 20s written by Raphael Cormack and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A vibrant portrait of the talented and entrepreneurial women who defined an era in Cairo. One of the world’s most multicultural cities, twentieth-century Cairo was a magnet for the ambitious and talented. During the 1920s and ’30s, a vibrant music, theater, film, and cabaret scene flourished, defining what it meant to be a “modern” Egyptian. Women came to dominate the Egyptian entertainment industry—as stars of the stage and screen but also as impresarias, entrepreneurs, owners, and promoters of a new and strikingly modern entertainment industry. Raphael Cormack unveils the rich histories of independent, enterprising women like vaudeville star Rose al-Youssef (who launched one of Cairo’s most important newspapers); nightclub singer Mounira al-Mahdiyya (the first woman to lead an Egyptian theater company) and her great rival, Oum Kalthoum (still venerated for her soulful lyrics); and other fabulous female stars of the interwar period, a time marked by excess and unheard-of freedom of expression. Buffeted by crosswinds of colonialism and nationalism, conservatism and liberalism, “religious” and “secular” values, patriarchy and feminism, this new generation of celebrities offered a new vision for women in Egypt and throughout the Middle East.

Download or read book Funeral Diva written by Pamela Sneed and published by City Lights Books. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 119 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Funeral Diva is the Winner of the Lambda Award for Lesbian Poetry! A poetic memoir about coming-of-age in the AIDS era, and its effects on life and art. "Sneed is an acclaimed reader of her own poetry, and the book has the feeling of live performance. . . . Its strength is in its abundance, its desire for language to stir body as well as mind."—Parul Sehgal, The New York Times Book Review "She is a writer for the future, in that she defies genre."—Hilton Als "This notable achievement, traveling from youth to adulthood, is a harrowing account of how Sneed transforms violence and pain into an artist's life."—Claudia Rankine, author of Citizen: An American Lyric "There's an eerie sense of timeliness to this book, which features prose and poetry by the writer and teacher Pamela Sneed and is largely — though not entirely — about mourning Black gay men killed too soon by a deadly virus."—Tomi Obaro, Buzzfeed "OH MY GOODNESS, it was amazing. I was in tears by the end. What starts off as beautiful memoir evolves into incredibly moving poetry, painful and sweet and lovely."—Marie Cloutier, Greenlight Bookstore, Brooklyn, NY "Balancing and mixing, with rhyme and reason, love and anger, good and bad, memory and the created present, all to tell the story of a life, a memoir unrestrained, devoid of artificial forms. Honest. Free."—Anjanette Delgado, New York Journal of Books In this collection of personal essays and poetry, acclaimed poet and performer Pamela Sneed details her coming of age in New York City during the late 1980s. Funeral Diva captures the impact of AIDS on Black Queer life, and highlights the enduring bonds between the living, the dying, and the dead. Sneed’s poems not only converse with lovers past and present, but also with her literary forebears—like James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Audre Lorde—whose aesthetic and thematic investments she renews for a contemporary American landscape. Offering critical focus on matters from police brutality to LGBTQ+ rights, Funeral Diva confronts today's most pressing issues with acerbic wit and audacity. The collection closes with Sneed's reflections on the two pandemics of her time, AIDS and COVID-19, and the disproportionate impact of each on African American communities. "Riveting, personal, open-hearted, risky and wise."—Sarah Schulman, author of Conflict Is Not Abuse " . . . a tour de force about the collision between a coalescing 1980s 'Black lesbian and gay literary and poetic movement' in New York and the onslaught of AIDS."—Donna Seaman, Booklist "Pamela Sneed's Funeral Diva is deft, defiant, and devastating."—Tommy Pico, author of Feed "Funeral Diva is urgent and necessary reading to live by. This is writing at its finest. Keep this book close to your heart and soul."—Karen Finley, author of Shock Treatment "Reminiscent of Audre Lorde’s Zami, Pamela Sneed’s memoir is, in itself, a healing balm, affirming in its truths and honesty. I cannot remember ever reading a book that illustrates the impact of the AIDS epidemic on our community more poignantly than Funeral Diva."—Nicole Dennis-Benn, author of Patsy "Pamela Sneed takes enormous risks in this book. She tells the truth with fierce concentration and an abiding sense of purpose.”—Dorothy Allison, author of Bastard Out of Carolina

Download or read book The Queen Of The Night written by Alexander Chee and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-02-02 with total page 573 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTSELLER, New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a Best Book of the Year from NPR, Boston Globe, BuzzFeed, and others. The mesmerizing story of one woman's rise from circus rider to courtesan to world-renowned diva—"a brilliant performance" (Washington Post). The Queen of the Night tells the captivating story of Lilliet Berne, an orphan who left the American frontier for Europe and was swept into the glamour and terror of Second Empire France. She became a sensation of the Paris Opera, with every accolade but an original role—her chance at immortality. When one is offered to her, she finds the libretto is based on her deepest secret, something only four people have ever known. But who betrayed her? With epic sweep, gorgeous language, and haunting details, Alexander Chee shares Lilliet’s cunning transformation from circus rider to courtesan to legendary soprano, retracing the path that led to the role that could secure her reputation—or destroy her with the secrets it reveals. “It just sounds terrific. It sounds like opera.”—The New Yorker “Sprawling, soaring, bawdy, and plotted like a fine embroidery.”—NPR

Download or read book Changed for Good written by Stacy Wolf and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-07-07 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Adelaide in "Guys and Dolls" to Nina in "In the Heights" and Elphaba in "Wicked," female characters in Broadway musicals have belted and crooned their way into the American psyche. In this lively book, Stacy Wolf illuminates the women of American musical theatre - performers, creators, and characters -- from the start of the cold war to the present day, creating a new, feminist history of the genre. Moving from decade to decade, Wolf first highlights the assumptions that circulated about gender and sexuality at the time. She then looks at the leading musicals to stress the key aspects of the plays as they relate to women, and often finds overlooked moments of empowerment for female audience members. The musicals discussed here are among the most beloved in the canon--"West Side Story," "Cabaret," "A Chorus Line," "Phantom of the Opera," and many others--with special emphasis on the blockbuster "Wicked." Along the way, Wolf demonstrates how the musical since the mid-1940s has actually been dominated by women--women onstage, women in the wings, and women offstage as spectators and fans.

Download or read book Ghost Bird written by Lisa Fuller and published by . This book was released on 2021-10-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling, multi award-winning, teen ghost story, from a First Nations Australian author, drawing on the culture and beliefs of her close-knit community. Stacey and Laney are twins and mirror images of each other but as different as the sun and the moon. Stacey wants to go places, do things and be someone different while Laney just wants to skip school and sneak out of the house to meet her boyfriend Troy. When Laney doesn't come home one night, the town assumes she's just doing her normal run-off but Stacey's gut tells her different.Stacey knows her twin isn't dead - she just doesn't know where she is; she can see her in her dreams but doesn't know if she is real or imagined. Holding onto the words her Nan taught her is one thing but listening to those around you is another - who will Stacey trust? As the town starts to believe that Laney is missing for good, can she find her twin in time?'Part coming-of-age story, part "Romeo and Juliet" romance, part speculative fiction, part Aboriginal spiritual revelation, part mystery - this is a story that is mature on many levels.' ReadPlus

Download or read book 48 Shades of Brown written by Nick Earls and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2004 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While his parents are in Geneva, sixteen-year-old Dan spends his last year of high school living with his twenty-two-year-old bass-playing aunt, Jacq, and her beautiful friend Naomi, whose active love life is audible through the wall between their bedrooms.

Download or read book The Summer Book written by Tove Jansson and published by Sort of Books. This book was released on 2022-04-14 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Celebrating 50 years of Tove Jansson's classic, bestselling novel Featured in the BBC 2 Between the Covers Bookclub Special (Eurovision series 2023) 'Distils the essence of summer' Robert Macfarlane 'Magical, life-affirming' Elizabeth Gilbert The Worldwide Classic about a tiny island and larger love. An elderly artist and her six-year-old grand-daughter while away a summer together on a tiny island in the gulf of Finland. As the two learn to adjust to each other's fears, whims and yearnings, a fierce yet understated love emerges - one that encompasses not only the summer inhabitants but the very island itself. Written in a clear, unsentimental style, full of brusque humour, and wisdom, The Summer Book is a profoundly life-affirming story. Tove Jansson captured much of her own life and spirit in the book, which was her favourite of her adult novels. With a foreword by Esther Freud and an afterword by Sophia Jansson (on whom the child 'Sophia' is based) who returns to the island during the pandemic at the point of becoming a grandmother herself. Includes a 15pp epilogue by Tove's niece Sophia Jansson - the inspiration for 'Sophia' - on a personal and moving return to the island. 'Eccentric, funny, wise, full of joys and small adventures. This is a book for life.' Esther Freud 'Tove Jansson was a genius. This is a marvellous, beautiful, wise novel, which is also very funny.' Philip Pullman

Download or read book Wishing for Tomorrow written by Hilary McKay and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-03-22 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enchanting sequel to Frances Hodgson Burnett's A Little Princess, written by the award-winning Hilary McKay.

Download or read book Hello Gorgeous written by William J. Mann and published by HMH. This book was released on 2012-10-09 with total page 605 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Masterful . . . Many books have been written about Streisand but few, if any, put readers as close to the subject as Mann does” (Miami Herald). A legendary singer, songwriter, actress, and filmmaker with multiple Academy, Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and even two Peabody awards to her name, Barbara Streisand is a talent like no other. In Hello, Gorgeous, celebrity biographer William J. Mann profiles the Brooklyn-born talent, focusing on her early years, honing her persona at Greenwich Village nightclubs like the Blue Angel and the Bon Soir. Streisand lost her father at an early age and had a rocky relationship with her mother, but her natural abilities and supernatural chutzpah soon earned her the role of a lifetime: a starring role as Fanny Brice in the Broadway musical, Funny Girl. In lush detail, Mann chronicles Streisand’s dizzying ascent from an unknown dreamer into one of the world’s most beloved superstars. “Mann’s meticulous research and insightful analysis go deeper than any previous biography: shedding light on the formative years that shaped Streisand’s persona, debunking some myths . . . and providing a cultural snapshot of the wild and free-spirited era in which Streisand blossomed.” —USA Today

Download or read book Queen of the Air written by Dean N. Jensen and published by Crown. This book was released on 2013-06-11 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A true life Water for Elephants, Queen of the Air brings the circus world to life through the gorgeously written, true story of renowned trapeze artist and circus performer Leitzel, Queen of the Air, the most famous woman in the world at the turn of the 20th century, and her star-crossed love affair with Alfredo Codona, of the famous Flying Codona Brothers. Like today's Beyonce, Madonna, and Cher, she was known to her vast public by just one name, Leitzel. There may have been some regions on earth where her name was not a household expression, but if so, they were likely on polar ice caps or in the darkest, deepest jungles. Leitzel was born into Dickensian circumstances, and became a princess and then a queen. She was not much bigger than a good size fairy, just four-foot-ten and less than 100 pounds. In the first part of the 20th century, she presided over a sawdust fiefdom of never-ending magic. She was the biggest star ever of the biggest circus ever, the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, The Greatest Show on Earth. In her life, Leitzel had many suitors (and three husbands), but only one man ever fully captured her heart. He was the handsome Alfredo Codona, the greatest trapeze flyer that had ever lived, the only one in his time who, night after night, executed the deadliest of all big-top feats, The Triple--three somersaults in midair while traveling at 60 m.p.h. The Triple, the salto mortale, as the Italians called it, took the lives of more daredevils than any other circus stunt.

Download or read book Real Men Don t Sing written by Allison McCracken and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-17 with total page 477 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The crooner Rudy Vallée's soft, intimate, and sensual vocal delivery simultaneously captivated millions of adoring fans and drew harsh criticism from those threatened by his sensitive masculinity. Although Vallée and other crooners reflected the gender fluidity of late-1920s popular culture, their challenge to the Depression era's more conservative masculine norms led cultural authorities to stigmatize them as gender and sexual deviants. In Real Men Don't Sing Allison McCracken outlines crooning's history from its origins in minstrelsy through its development as the microphone sound most associated with white recording artists, band singers, and radio stars. She charts early crooners’ rise and fall between 1925 and 1934, contrasting Rudy Vallée with Bing Crosby to demonstrate how attempts to contain crooners created and dictated standards of white masculinity for male singers. Unlike Vallée, Crosby survived the crooner backlash by adapting his voice and persona to adhere to white middle-class masculine norms. The effects of these norms are felt to this day, as critics continue to question the masculinity of youthful, romantic white male singers. Crooners, McCracken shows, not only were the first pop stars: their short-lived yet massive popularity fundamentally changed American culture.